The Walking Dead has major Season 6 news for comic nerds

Hailing from a Georgia town that redefines small, Sabienna started reading at a young age as a means of vacationing from the quaintness of her surroundings. A short time after she discovered her love of books, she started writing and has...

The Walking Dead is set to delve into uncharted territory in Season 6

The Walking Dead is taking viewers to a place where even the comics have never gone in Season 6 — the past.

The Walking Dead has always been one of the most faithful page-to-screen adaptations around, but when AMC's hit series returns for the first half of Season 6 this fall, there will be surprises in store for comic book readers (and everyone else). In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, showrunner Scott Gimple revealed the first half of the season will delve into "prequel material" the comics never touched on. The question becomes, who or what will be getting an apocalyptic backstory?

The primary candidate is Morgan, a fan favorite who has been off-camera since Season 3 but who reappeared at the end of Season 5. Morgan and Rick are on a collision course this year, and it would make sense for the show to go deeper into what Morgan has been up to since his breakdown. The comics delved fairly deep into Morgan's story, but there could be new flourishes added just for the show.

There are also the Season 6 bad guys, the Wolves, to explore. The terrifying group does not appear in the comics, but they are similar to the Saviors. These mysterious marauders are definitely due for a backstory.

Maybe the prequel material will be much more obvious. With Fear the Walking Dead airing in August, Gimple is surely aware that fans are thirsting for pre-walker facts about the main cast. Any one of the regulars, like Rick, Glenn or Michonne, would be a good candidate for a prequel. Despite the show spending so much time with these characters, there is still precious little we know about their lives before — other than Rick's marriage woes and coma.